I saw on another site, rims for a civic larger than 16 only slows the car down due to rotating mass... and to get rims either 15 or 16... i just got a 02 civic EX.. comes with 15's....i have seen hatchbacks with a k20 swap racing camaros on youtube with just the stock steelies... which are 14 or 15?..i do not want to lower my car...i have had a lowered car before... it sucks.... what rims would look best on my black 02 EX... and yes i am a newbie to imports.. thanks

 

welcome to the forums

Unfortunately, any wheel with the exception of the stock design is going to look weird at stock height. Personally, I'd go with 16's though.

And lowered cars aren't bad... I never had a problem with my civic, and I had about 2 1/2" from the ground to my oil pan.

 

I run 17's and it's lowered 2" all around. Only problem I have is the tire rubs the inner fender well on sharp turns when the road dips.

 

i run 17s. what is the stock wheel size? im guessing since there 15s they are 195/55/15?? if thats the case if you were to get 17s the tire size to EQUAL the same as 195/55/15 but with a 17 would be 205/40/17 these 2 sizes go together really well when it comes to the speedo reading right and not effecting how the car performs. the ONLY difference between 205 and 195 is a 1/2 inch your tire will be a half inch wider than stock. my 17s are the same and INTHEZONEACs lowerd actuall half inch lower all around and my wheel rubs with sharp turns on a bump like pullin into a drive way or dips in the road

 

Get 15-17's, whichever you prefer, get the right offset, and lower it conservatively. It'll look fine and ride fine. With the 17's it may be hard to get +42 offset and you may have to settle for +40... rolling fenders may be required in that case. I recommend getting 15's or 16's for that reason. Little did I know when I bought these rims... soon I will be getting 15's.

 

on the 01-05 civics, 17s are perfectly fine to run. it is possible to run that size wheel and still maintain the factory wheel diameter as long as you get the right size tire.

On older model civics (2000 and older) 17s are too big and will slow it down, but on any 2001+ 17s fit perfectly fine

 

I have 17's on mine and its lower a good bit and i dont even have problems with rubbing. the reason you heard 17's will slow the car down is because some people dont think about what there buying and try to put some lexani solid chrome 17's on there civic that weigh 180 pounds, and of course the engine is gonna have more trouble turning them. If you stick to something light weight then you should be fine.

 

Lucky
You must have like... perfect offset. +42mm?

Well, I don't think he means they slow you down that much, but the thing is, any 15" or 16" rim is going to weigh less than a 17" of the same model, even if it's lightweight... because the 15" or 16" is also going to be lightweight.
It's not going to be that huge of a difference among different sizes of the same model, but it will still be slightly noticeable.

 

my overall diameter with 17's on my 00 civic is barely, I mean barely larger than the diameter than the stock setup. They look perfect, not too big or small, not sure where you got that from.

 

Don't be jealous of us just because we never had rubbing issues

Also, something everyone fails to acknowledge: the effects of wheel weight are multiplied the further from the hub the weight is. So, basically, if you have a 17" wheel and a 15" wheel that both weigh the same, the 17's will still require more power to spin.

But the difference won't be noticed by anyone less than a professional driver. And to be painfully honest, I consider nobody on these forums a professional driver. Wheel weight is like aerodynamics... any results a normal person "feels" is most likely 100% a placebo; I'd venture to guess that about 97% of drivers aren't in-touch with their cars enough to truly notice these small changes.